Except for our taste in music your journey sounds very similar to mine that I (re)started over a decade ago. I’ve learned SOO much with trial and error.
In the Pacific Northwest there is a lot of really good stereo churn and just about anything seems to show up thru Craigslist
What I learned rather focusing on brands or models of speakers my first challenge was to determine the type of speaker I was looking for. Each type Monitor, Sealed or ported Tower, Open Baffle, Planer, Line Array, Horn has a significant sound signature different from the other independent of frequency response. What I thought I wanted a sealed tower was shattered when I heard my first pair of Dahlquist speakers in my listening space. Even though I had to return them due to a blown tweeter the Genie had been let out of the bottle (box) and I couldn’t go back. I can now only hear the box. Even with over 300 Watts I couldn’t couldn’t make my ADS 1290II towers produce that open airy presentation. I finally settled on corner horns and they do things that other systems even way more expensive can’t do. (There are aspects that these more expensive systems do but to me they aren’t the priority)
I enjoyed the hunt so it took me a long time to get where I am today and I’m not done. If you don’t want to spend a decade tinkering I would recommend visiting as many high end shops as you can and focus on the sound not the equipment. You’ll know it when you hear it. Take that knowledge to craigslist and you can try some pretty esoteric stuff for not a lot of money.
Cheers and enjoy